THE NEONPRINT

THE ARCHER

"Ok, remember to always keep your guard up while you punch. And one... two... DODGE! Fuck! Sorry, B! Shit happens." he punched me senseless, "Here, let me clean you up. Now stop being so damn moody, man up! You stained so many of my shirts with your blood that I'm starting to think your blood kink might need to see a therapist."

I rolled my eyes to the back of my head.

"C'mon! Don't look at me like that, don't you like me walking around shirtless?" said Ace while taking off his shirt and gazing at me. "At least you did some good to your own self. I'm gonna go take a swim in the lake, we'll train later, join me?"

We were deep into the Firefly Forest, up on the Atrox mountain. We decided to settle down near a lake that had crystal blue water and was as clear as glass. The gigantic trees cast shadows all over the place making it perfect for us to install ourselves there. We were shielded from the heat there and the rock wall that kept the lake from leaking loose on the Atrox hills was just perfect for training. Ace and I climbed it, had strength workouts and used it as a form of entertainment. I learnt how to cope with my anxiety during difficult situations such as: slipping while shimming on wet platforms, falling into the water from a great distance, injuring my back and bruising my entire body while making my way through narrow places.

"It's been 3 days, you know? We can't stay here forever." I said. My body was sore and my words were faintly articulated.

"With you forever is always." he said

"Well, look who became a romantic boy all of a sudden. Did you hit your head that hard against the rocks?" I messed with him.

"It's...nothing! Really! I'm just tired. That's it." said Ace. He looked down at the ground while scratching the back of his head. "Want to have dinner early? I might catch some fish."

"Sure."

"Is your ghost radar under control?" he asked me. He sat down on a rock right next to the tree that was hovering above our campsite.

"There's this guy up there." I pointed up to a tree in the distance, "I think I might go talk to him, see if he saw anybody passing by." I said

"Ok, but when you come back we have to decide what's our next move. I miss your bed, the ground isn't that comfortable after all."

"Of course. Now go hunt some fish, I'm starving!"

"Sir,yes, sir!"

I didn't care about the ghost up in the tree, I just needed some time alone with my thoughts. Being so much around Ace felt suffocating but I couldn't even comprehend the thought of not having him around. Those 5 years of self isolating really damaged me. Doubts about him being worth it surfaced when he didn't even say 'Happy birthday!'. Maybe he was waiting for the perfect moment to say it. But if not when you have the opportunity, then when? Maybe his idea was to celebrate me daily as if my birthday was all year around. I continued my walk just admiring the beautiful sunny weather. The sun was scorching but with everything that was going on no one could really enjoy it.

As I got closer to the spirit he let me know telepathically that he commited suicide. He wanted to talk and was aware of my power to communicate with spirits. I climbed up, broke some branches, fell down, got back up all while the spirit just looked in the distance, not even moving a bit. My sore body did me no justice.

"Sorry for being so direct, but why did you commit suicide?" I asked the spirit.

"That's a long story, kiddo. C'mon, take a seat right next to me and let me tell you the story of my life." said the spirit.